The use of vacuum packaged flotation devices having automatic inflation means contained in a sealed vacuum package or envelope is known in the art. Such sealed vacuum packaged inflatable devices find their primary application in various military uses particularly in aircraft where such devices have been employed with great success for actuation in the automatic mode where a connecting lanyard, or line, is provided which automatically triggers the release of the inflating gas to an inflatable life raft upon seat-man separation after ejection from an aircraft.
With the recent development of more stringent military specifications requiring the incorporation in such vacuum packaged inflatable flotation devices of manual means for triggering the release of the inflating medium there has been created a need to redesign the vacuum packing as well as the triggering means in order to provide the necessary flexibility demanded.
In many situations where one might wish to manually trigger the inflation actuation means in any vacuum packaged inflatable flotation device the pilot, or other crewman who might wish to so manually trigger the actuation means, would find himself in a disadvantageous position to exert more than a given maximum pull force on the triggering means provided.
It has, therefore, been deemed mandatory in certain applications, and desirable in others, to provide a means of actuating a sealed vacuum packaged inflatable flotation device which exhibits the ability to be manually operated by the pilot or crewman who might for example have been wounded in combat and/or find it necessary for example to ditch the aircraft in an open body of water where he would not be able to exert a great deal of force upon the manual triggering device provided.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum packaged flotation device comprising the combination of an inflatable flotation device a means for inflating said device which comprises a valve, a container for holding an inflating medium and said inflating medium, and a sealed vacuum package containing said inflatable flotation device and means for inflating same, which is provided with at least one means for automatically and/or manually actuating the inflation of the device; wherein the said means for activating the inflation of the device is triggered by a pull force which acts automatically and/or manually on one or more connecting lanyards which are attached at one end to the actuation means and which lanyards extend through the vacuum package in such a manner as to preserve the integrity of the sealed vacuum package, while at the same time allowing for the easy manual triggering of the actuation means.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel vacuum packed flotation device wherein the manual and/or automatic triggering means for actuating the release of the inflating medium to the inflatable flotation device is affixed to a vacuum package in such a manner as to allow the triggering action to take place with the exertion of a minimum amount of pull force and throughout a specifically defined cone of actuation.